I dropped off my spare at a local shop the other day to have it balanced. Out of all the tires I have ever had balanced I have never seen someone put the weights on the front of the wheel. My girl friend picked the tire up for me after work and when I got home I went to put it back on the spare holder and there are weights on the front and the back of the wheel and it looks terrible. On the back of the wheel there are marks on the rim where the old weights were taken off (which is fine and expected that's why they go on the back), now that this jerk put them on the front of the wheel they are going to ruin the finish on the front of my wheel. Have you ever seen anyone do this? It can't be standard practice. Should I take the weights off the front and go get it rebalanced.....WTF??

Back

Front

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If a tyre needs a lot of weight (which this looks like) it is better balanced if it is done like that with weight either side. It's not pretty though. Surprised he hasn't used the stick-on weights inside the rim? Might be because of the quantity again?

I was advised to use balancing powder inside the tyre for mud tyres, although I know some people have not had good experience with it, but its worked ok for me.

I mean I can deal with having some weights on the front (look wise) but down the road if it gets balanced again, when those weights are removed there going to ruin the finish on the rim like they have on the back of the rim that's what pisses me off.

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Just take it back and ask if they can do a static balance with tape weights on the inside of the rim. You won't get the "best" balance out of it but it will look the best. I work at a discount tire in Texas.

I mean I can deal with having some weights on the front (look wise) but down the road if it gets balanced again, when those weights are removed there going to ruin the finish on the rim like they have on the back of the rim that's what pisses me off.

I totally understand. They should have at least asked/told you what they had to do so you could decide.

A Dynamic Tire Balance will always be more precise when the when it's set to place weights on both the inside and outside of the rim.

I balance my own tires and wheels but if I was having someone else do it I would tell them if I had a preference of hiding the weights ( yes you can set up the better balancers to hide the weights behind spokes ) and if I wanted stick on or clip on weights.

So don't be to hard on the guy, you didn't specify and he did it the best way for a proper balance.

I know the guy personally, I'm contemplating not even saying anything to him because he's such a nice guy. I would just take the weights off the front and bring it somewhere else to get balanced (if I even decide to do anything about it) I mean he did it for $5 and your right I never specified, partly because I didn't know I needed too because I've never had anyone put them on the front.

No I didn't paint the rims they were bought with the black finish.

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Yea it's kind of a catch 22 deal if he'd had the vehicle there he probably would have seen all the other tires had the weights hidden, hopefully it didn't damage the rim to badly.

I was wondering about the wheels being painted because I have an old set that the finish is gone on and have been thinking about painting them. Was wondering how well paint adhere's, proper prep, type paint etc.

I've seen a lot of threads on here over the years about painting rims. A lot of people use rustoleum bed liner and it seems to hold up well as long as you prep it correctly. Do a search I'm sure you can find one of the many detailed threads on painting the rims.

I've used rustoleum bed liner on a ton of things on the jeep and it looks great. It would look good on wheels as well.

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With that big of a tire, sometimes it takes both sides to get it right. At this point, the "damage" if any, has been done so I would just leave it and spray some krylon satin black on the weights to make it less obvious.

Outside wheel weights are fine for cars but not for offroad vehicles where rocks, trail obstacles, etc. tend to scrape them off way too easily and far too often. I'd only go for tape-on (peel & stick) weights placed on the inside of the wheel, I haven't let the tire jocks use clip on weights in 15 years. Peel & stick wheel balancing weights have a low enough profile so they don't interfere with the brakes.

I've heard of people putting a certain amount of quality airsoft BB's in the tire to balance it. Its supposed to work well, but I have not done this myself. Maybe worth a try for you.

I've heard this also. Read somewhere that it works best on larger off road tires because they are so hard to balance to begin with. Unfortunately I don't know anyone versed enough in tire balancing to find out if there is truth in it. Does anyone here know/had experience?

You must have posted this at the time I was posting. So how do you determine the amount of bbs? And if this works so flawlessly as I've read on other sites, why doesn't everyone go this route?

I'm sure the tire shop would love to take a tire off to fix a flat and have BB's all over their shop. An experienced tire shop that deals with oversize tires often will have little problems with balancing a large tire.

You must have posted this at the time I was posting. So how do you determine the amount of bbs? And if this works so flawlessly as I've read on other sites, why doesn't everyone go this route?

Maybe its just not well known? I think their are charts online you can find that will tell you how much to put in. As for the shops, I would just let them know so they aren't surprised. I mean how hard is it to just sweep up some BB's.

Maybe its just not well known? I think their are charts online you can find that will tell you how much to put in. As for the shops, I would just let them know so they aren't surprised. I mean how hard is it to just sweep up some BB's.

I'll look into it a little further. I forgot a friend of my dads owns a shop and also does tires, so I'll ask him. I'm just curious because sometimes all it takes is a pothole to knock a tire out of balance. If this method works, there would be no need for exterior wheel weights. Which to me would mean never having to get a tire rebalanced. A few BBs is worth not having to pay $12-16 per tire balance charge. And if I'm not mistaken, they still mount/dismount tires on a horizontal plane don't they? So the chances of a tire shop breaking the bead and having BBs go all over the floor is probably pretty slim.

every tire shop would put weights on both sides if possible as it is the best way to get a perfect balance (unless otherwise told not to). especially for larger tires that don't like to balance to begin with. put some paint over the weights and be done with it.

take a look at the tires of cars/trucks on the road, and you will notice that almost every rim that has a lip on the outside (like yours) will also have a hammer on weight on it (some tires actually balance perfect without weights) but if it doesn't have a lip on the outside, like an aftermarket rim, it may have a hammer on weight on the inside (sometimes they don't even have a lip on the inside) and some stick on weights just behind the spokes. those lips arnt there for no reason

ive never used the BB's but have heard good reviews about certain companies

I didn't want the stick on weights. I told the guy to put them wherever they were needed, inside or out. Took quite a few on the outside to get them perfect on a couple of them. I took some semigloss black and painted the weights and I don't even notice them. They blend right in with the black rims.

You can see them if you look hard enough but no one ever notices. It ain't no show car.